David Thiselton

Justin Snaith and Richard Fourie made history in Saturday’s R10 million Hollywoodbets Durban July, becoming the first combination to win four Julys, and Snaith clinched the exacta with two horses both part-owned by Jonathan Bloch and Nancy Hossack, meaning the latter had become the second owners this millennium to land the July exacta and the third in recent memory.

For Nancy Hossack it was an incredible day in which events had reached full circle over a 12 year period and in which her thoughts were often with her late father Jack Mitchell.

Her emotions would likely have reached a zenith at 18H00 hours on Saturday evening when she had the privilege of hanging up her father Jack’s colours on the Hollywoodbets Durban July Wall Of Honour in the Hollywoodbets Greyville Classic Room. Winning owners in the past have always talked about this privately conducted traditional ceremony as being the moment of realisation, not only because of the many famous set of silks seen on the wall, but also due to the incredulous feeling of being part of an exclusive group who will forever be woven into South African history.

Nancy was on course at the 2014 July with her father when his part-owned Snaith-trained Dynasty colt Legislate was awarded the race after an objection, with the Brett Crawford-trained Dynasty colt Futura in third place. Legislate did not run in Jack’s silks but Futura would go on to do the Gr 1 L’Ormarins King’s Plate and Gr 1 Met double in 2015 carrying Jack’s white with black spots and sleeves colours and a white cap.

Wind on to 2026 and the same colours, now in Nancy’s name, were carried to first and second in the July and both horses are by sires owned by Jack, with Note To Self being by Futura and Wish List being by July winner Legislate,

In between those dates Nancy was on course to watch another horse part-owned by her father, the Snaith-trained Do It Again, winning the July in 2018.

She recalled the connections had gone out together the previous evening and had all contracted food poisoning and Jack had been so ill he only managed to make it to the course just in time to watch Do It Again win.

Nancy recalled, “That was an amazing experience and everybody suddenly improved after the win!”

Nancy and Jack had raced out of the Nick Jonsson box that day and the latter had landed the July exacta as a part-owner in both Do It Again and the Snaith-trained runner up Made To Conquer. Nick recalled at the time that his good friend Luke Bailles had been the last owner to land a July exacta when the Terrance Millard-trained pair Illustrador and Olympic Duel finished one-two in 1990.

And now in 2026 another ownership exacta is once again linked to the previous one.

The link goes even further because another part-owner in Do It Again was Investec founder Bernard Kantor and Jonathan Bloch and Nancy Hossack first met while working in the same building for Investec, where they often chatted because of their shared interest in horseracing.

When Do It Again did it again in 2019 Jack’s estate was the part-owner as he had sadly passed away and Nancy later took over the colours.

She said, “The 2019 win was Do It Again’s most emotional victory because he did it without my Dad being here.”

Jonathan confirmed, “The build up to this year’s race was amazing and this partnership has been beautiful, Nancy is the perfect partner to have in racing and it is special that both Justin and Jonathan, as a shareholder in Note To Self, are part of this horse too. it is so great when there is such a history behind the victory too.”

Jonathan was not only referring to Jack in the latter statement, but also to the like of ownership greats Abe Swersky, Arnold Golombick, Graham Beck and Laurie Jaffe, who had mentored him both in business and racing. Those famous racing men had also influenced Nancy’s racing nous as her father had sat on the Jockey Club board together with them.

Jonathan said, “Today we stand on the shoulders of giants”.

Jonathan has actually outdone the giants though in a sense as he could well have become the first owner to capture all of what used to be KZN’s four classics and he has now added a July exacta. Before the July he won the Gr 2 WSB Guineas and Gr 1 Daily News 2000 with Star Major and the Gr 2 WSB Fillies Guineas and Gr 2 Woolavington 2000 with Wish List, although the latter race is no longer a classic as it is now open to older horses.

He and Nancy praised Justin Snaith for the magnificent job he had done in preparing Note To Self and Wish List.

Jonathan was watching both horses in the race on Saturday and admitted he was screaming the house down. He said, “Then I spotted King Pelles running on and I said ‘Oh no, please don’t come and upset the applecart!'” The latter finished a 1,55 length third at 25/1 odds behind 11/2 shot Note To Self and the 9/2 chance favourite Wish List.

Nancy had also been watching both horses and said, “When I saw Richard (Fourie) going wide around the turn I thought ‘He knows he’s going to win.'”

Nancy had good reason for such a thought and added, “Futura was exactly the same as Note To Self in that he needed a fast run race and he was always flying at them in the finish. It was just when you moved was the most important think and that is why I think that was a very clever move by Richard, because Note To Self needs to go early as he is a big, long-striding individual.”

Fourie couldn’t have timed it better as he caught Wish List in the shadow of the post.

Nancy had been instrumental in spotting both Note To Self and Wish List at the National Yearling Sales with the help of one of her best friends, Snaith Racing employee Jenna le Roux. Jonathan Snaith no doubt provided input too.

Jonathan Bloch said, “My son Zac liked both of them on pedigree, so I went to look at them and liked both of them as individuals.”

Therefore, after Jonathan Snaith had signed for them for R300,000 and R700,00 respectively, Jonathan asked to come in as a partner and Jonathan Snaith and Nancy readily agreed.

Justin Snaith has now won six Julys and joins Terrance Millard on that number. He is now just one behind the record seven won by the Hall Of Fame trainer Syd Laird.

The strength of the three-year-old crop had been questioned, with some saying they have been overrated, but they dominated the finish as Viva’s Liberte finished a 1,70 length fourth and could have snatched third from older horse King Pelles had he not been short of room late. It was then a further 1,50 lengths back to the older horse Isivivane with Native Ruler close behind him and the rest of the field spread out like the washing.

The time of two minutes and 13.48 seconds was 34 seconds quicker than last year’s slow run race and chief stipendiary steward Lyall Hutcheson said it was one of the “cleanest” Julys in  recent times.